by Shaw, Robin
I advanced toward the cash register and Bethany conceded. I paid for the gas and my sports drink. One of the women loudly whispered Bethany’s name and I twirled around with my purchases in hand, headed in their direction. Gently, Bethany tugged my shirtsleeve and I cocked my head to the side. The sliver of insecurity in her nerves was perceptible, and as a result, I complied with her unspoken request to back down.
Back in the car, Bethany acted like she hadn’t been frazzled at the gas station.
“What’re you studying?” I asked after some time had passed.
Bethany gathered what looked like half a ream of paper into two piles on those thick and shapely thighs. Man, every inch of her was appealing. Reminding myself that Pierce trusted me and didn’t think of me as some horny knucklehead, I tried to think about the swim I wanted to get in today. Beating off didn’t do anything for me lately. Swimming had alleviated my primitive needs these days. It hadn’t failed me. I needed to do something to stop thinking about touching her and deal with my body’s response to her—quick.
She wasn’t flaunting what she had been so adequately blessed with. And there was nothing she should hide. She had to be burning up in her blouse and in the thick material of her slacks. If it were up to me, her blouse wouldn’t be buttoned all the way to the top. On second thought, if I had it my way she’d be wearing the thinnest and clingiest top, with a good dip in the front. She’d be in a tight skirt that would mold to her backside. Man, I bet her legs felt like silk.
A hard to read expression started over Bethany’s face. She steepled her fingers on the papers on her lap. I really wanted to know what she was thinking. She didn’t know me from a hole in the wall, but she was tense. Too tense. Had it been those people who so rudely interrupted our moment at the gas station? What was up with that, anyway? Even the young cashier girl had connived with those other people to try to piss Bethany off. Which only made me mad. No words had been voiced on the cashier’s part. Just that silent challenge from them all to Bethany, and I didn’t know how she rose above it in spite of her evident displeasure. Mulling over it, I’d noticed that Bethany had been unnerved when she left her house. It was a good thing that she was going to have a vacation, or a reprieve from all that negativity. Paloma’s Edge was just the place for her to unwind. Unlike some of the vacationers I’ve met, she probably deserved to have a vacation more than they did.
“The history of the Paloma Hotel. A brief biography on Anton Pruitt and his companies,” she finally answered.
I risked a glance in her direction. She was reading those papers like it was some gossip magazine. Mr. Pruitt was a great guy and a respected entrepreneur, but all of that information couldn’t have been intriguing. This was her uncle. Did she really need to research her uncle in order to know him? No wonder why he’d been contrite when Mrs. Pruitt had brought Bethany up during dinner. He mustn’t have kept in touch with her over the years in any way.
“Why’re you doing all that?”
“Because I am applying for a job at the Paloma Hotel.”
***
I took off my damp clothes, tossed them in the hamper, and jumped into my swim trunks again when I heard a soft knock on the door. It could only be one person. I mimicked her knock and she made an impatient but amused sound. The wooden door swung open and Nancy, the Pruitt family housekeeper, raised her brows at me meaningfully. Pierce had told me that Nancy had been their babysitter since they were infants. When he and Cassidy became older, Nancy accepted the position as a live-in housekeeper. Nancy liked things to be done her way, and as much as she claimed that I was the bane of her existence, I knew she didn’t mean it.
I blocked her path to my hamper. She lifted her arm to look at her watch. She wore a pressed shirt, trouser pants, and leather shoes. No matter what she was doing, she always looked immaculate. Her dark reddish-brown hair was in a bun that only a violent storm could mess up. Pierce had told me that her hair reached her thighs, and that he’d pulled on it when he’d been little. He liked women with long hair, so that wasn’t a surprise.
She feigned anger. “I could’ve been downstairs in the washing room by now with your clothes.”
“I’ve been doing my laundry when I can,” I pointed out.
“Yes,” she said, “the least I could do for you is your laundry since you clean this room. Isn’t it your day off today?”
“And that’s what my days off are for: to do my chores. You have enough to do with this house.”
She propped her hands on her hips. “Are you insinuating that I’m overwhelmed with my responsibilities?”
“Never.”
Nancy nodded approvingly and offered me a slight grin. “The AC hasn’t kicked in yet. It’ll smell like sweat in here if you don’t let me get to your laundry quickly.”
“It’s something you can remember me by. All strong, sweaty man.” I winked at her and her smile widened. It might’ve hurt her head because her bun was always so tight.
“You’re too much, Chase!” She shook her head.
“It’s her job—to tend to this house and the people who inhabit it.” An unfriendly voice that could only belong to Cassidy interrupted Nancy and I. Rudely. What was it with people today? Here was the bane of Nancy’s existence.
Nancy’s demeanor changed with Cassidy’s statement. It pissed me off that Cassidy got away with treating Nancy like shit. Who the fuck was Cassidy, anyway? She was a nauseating blend of entitled and conceited. And I had encountered many girls who thought they were the shit, when they were very basic. The only reason for Pierce’s protectiveness of Cassidy had to be because of their blood relation. I didn’t even think he’d talk to her if they weren’t related. He may be spoiled too, but he always treated the staff at the Paloma Hotel and Nancy with respect. I wouldn’t be here, or even be his friend if it were otherwise. My summer arrangement had to come with one major string attached: Cassidy.
Cassidy flicked her pale blue eyes over my body like she was gonna fuck me. Like she’d fucked me before. Like what she had just said wasn’t degrading to Nancy.
“Nancy’s not your lackey. And this grown boy right here knows how to do his laundry and does it. Some grown girls should acquire that basic adaptive skill.” I heaved in a breath because this was a mental workout on my self-control. “I speak for myself. I know what I want. And I want you to keep it movin’. I was talking to Nancy.”
Cassidy’s mouth opened wide like I’d shoved a gigantic watermelon in her mouth. A look she likely wore often and I didn’t want to see it again.
I casted a glance Nancy’s way. “And we’re gonna go out for a late lunch today.”
With a grateful look, she bobbed her head and left the room. I stalked over and slammed the door in Cassidy’s face, but she opened the door and closed it, leaning against it. Damn it, I hadn’t locked it. I wanted to make sure I had everything I needed before I went to the beach.
“You don’t have to play hard to get,” Cassidy said with an air of distaste.
When I felt her fingers linger on my shoulders, I instantly recoiled. “This isn’t a game, Cassidy. I don’t want you. Go after someone who does.”
As she sat at the foot of the bed and raised a brow, her mouth twisted in question. “Come on, Chase. Even with that scar on your face, you’re still good looking,” she said with mirth, in a failed attempt to make me feel like shit. “Surely you can’t be immune to this”—she swept her hands along the sides of her body—“unless it’s true that we’re batting for the same team…” She tapped her chin. “I’d be more than willing to help with that.”
I sucked in a deep breath. Comments about my sexual orientation didn’t bother me like it did with other guys I knew. “Stop being so goddamn juvenile and get your ass off the bed.” I strode to the door and pushed it open with more force than I had intended.
At a leisurely pace, she got up and shook her long, pale blond locks. “At least you know that”—she motioned towards the bed and then the entire room—“bed isn�
��t yours. You’re a guest. For now. And if I were to tell father that you’ve made inappropriate advances towards me, you’d be out of here.”
Squaring my shoulders, I shot her a bland look. “Go on and do that,” I managed in as flat a tone as possible. “I am not gonna beg to stay. If I am told to leave, I’ll keep it movin’ like I’ve been telling you to do.” I clasped my hands together. “Or do I need to tell your daddy or Pierce that I can’t get you off my dick? That you’re begging the help to fuck you?”
And, temporarily, she exited my life.
***
My arms and legs burned a little, but it was a good swim, the best way to work out my body. Get my mind right. It was a nice cloudless sky, and the beach wasn’t crowded yet. As I stepped out of the lukewarm water and onto the warm white sand, I returned a wave in greeting at a couple from the Paloma Hotel, and then sat down on my beach chair. Droplets of water trickled off my skin and I didn’t bother drying it off. The anger and frustration I had felt churning in my stomach stopped.
Unlike Rylan, Joel, and a whole bunch of guys around here, I never took to Cassidy or felt compelled to speak to her. Even before I learned what a nasty piece of work she was. The guys had said that she was a cocktease. I’d learned that when she’d finally slept with them, she’d acted like they hadn’t existed for weeks. Pierce knew that Cassidy had slept with his friends, plenty of other guys in Paloma’s Edge and nearby Miami. When someone had stupidly mentioned Cassidy’s sexual encounters when he had been close by, I’d had to hold him off from punching the other guy in the face. Rylan and Joel had been considerate enough to tell me about Cassidy when Pierce had left to go somewhere with Mona. They’d wanted to warn me because I was the new guy. They were both miffed to this day that she had ran the shots and had treated them like shit afterwards.
I had pointed that out to the Joel and Rylan that guys pulled the ill treatment on girls all the time after fucking them. And they had just sneered at me and drank more beer. I had respected Cassidy for getting her instant gratification and not making it out to be more than what it was. I’d once been loose just like she was. Very loose. Almost indiscriminately loose.
Literally hundreds of fucks later, I didn’t want to use any more girls for sex. It didn’t sate me like it once had. I had felt out of control, like any chick with a willing cunt was good enough for me. But I deserved better than that. I didn’t know why. But my persistent mind kept on telling me until I listened. I hated that I kinda understood Cassidy. She wasn’t exploring her sexual identity, like she probably had been doing initially. No, her goal was to conquer any guy she set her sights on. It made her feel empowered. I just so happened to be a flavor that she was intent on tasting. Cassidy’s warped identity was tied up in her efforts to be desired by every man. Any pity, or empathy, however, I may have felt for her from the jump dissipated. I had no right to judge. No place to think her vile. She was aware of how fucked up she was, and didn’t give a flying fuck about who she stomped on while she tried to reconcile her need for validation with the reality that outside of her Paloma’s Edge bubble, she would get lost in the crowd.
My phone buzzed, reminding me that it’d been an hour and a half since I had brought Bethany to the lobby at the Paloma. She’d still been concentrating over sections of her papers that she had highlighted before we entered the hotel. Watching her comb over her flyovers and apply a little makeup had me too hard for my liking. Thank goodness for boxers. My chest had felt heavy after I’d told Brody, one of the concierges, that Bethany had been waiting for Mr. Pruitt; I’d stopped and had come close to rounding on her and she’d craned her head up, peering at me. The light made her cerulean gaze twinkle. And I hadn’t thought that she’d felt any pull to me, but I’d seen it—whether or not she liked it, her control had momentarily vanished. On the most basic level, she wanted me. Her cute and warm-looking blouse didn’t hide the fact that her nipples had hardened.
The AC hadn’t caused her body’s reaction. In my car, her nipples hadn’t pebbled from the AC. Every opportunity I had, I drank her in like the rare delicacy she had to be. Mixed with desire in her eyes and the faint shade of pink that spread across her face was fear. Maybe she hadn’t felt a physical draw to someone in a long-ass time. I sure as heck could relate to that. Or it could have meant that she also hadn’t had a guy in a while. Damn me if I enjoyed that possibility too much. Not wanting to make her feel more flustered, I had grinned at her and told her that she was gonna do really well during her interview with Mr. Pruitt, and as a result, she beamed at me, stirring my cock again. I’d sped off so she wouldn’t notice. Why’d Pierce say she was on vacation but she’d acted like a stressed out job applicant? Man, I couldn’t get Bethany out of my mind or my erection to let up.
Pierce: Everything went ok?
Me: Yeah. Took her str8 2 the Paloma.
Pierce: I owe you one.
Me: U think? R u still with Mona?
Pierce: Yep. C u soon. Gonna c Beth b4 2nite, 4 sure.
He had no idea that it had been a pleasure to meet Bethany. However, I couldn’t let him know that. He may think that I’d gotten fresh with his cousin. I never thought I’d see her again. University of Miami was huge. Visitors and non-admit students came all the time. I had been too late when I had decided to catch up to her and offer her a ride to wherever she needed to go. Too damn proud, like I had been in the past, to reach out to someone. And now that I’d seen her again, my interest in her had only increased. She was probably a student there too.
With my wide beach bag and beach chair folded up, I headed towards the long path to get to my car. Joel and Rylan came in with what looked like ten girls. One of them I recognized from last night. She was a pretty girl by conventional standards, although she didn’t hold a candle to Beth’s beauty or degree of sexiness. Last night, this girl must’ve told me her name five times, and I couldn’t recall it to save my life. As most of the girls tittered in a fake and exaggerated way, the girl from the night before sent me a lascivious wink and curled her finger around the loop of her belly-button piercing. While I liked piercings on girls, her doing the belly-button twirl did nothing for me like I knew it once would have.
“Chase! You leaving already?” Rylan smiled while one of the girls rubbed her hands over his chest.
“Yeah. Gonna go to lunch with Nancy. Gotta look my best.”
Joel’s mouth twitched. “Don’t even go there,” I warned him. Joel had the grace to look embarrassed, but I doubted that he really was.
“His mind is always in the gutter.” Rylan shook his head. We were young, horny bastards, but Nancy had treated us all like we were her children. She could be our grandmother. Joel wouldn’t have attempted to make a joke involving Nancy if Pierce were here.
“Have a good one.”
Joel looked on as most of the girls started to frolic in the sand. “We most certainly will.”
Rylan chased after the girls.
“And you don’t wanna leave those girls unattended for too long. They have short attention spans.” I cocked my head in the direction of other guys, who were looking at them.
A thought seemed to enter his mind and he faced me again. “Hey, did you pick you up Pierce’s cousin today?”
“Yeah.”
Joel’s face became animated. “Well,” he said impatiently. “How’d she look?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “She’s all right,” I gladly lied.
Joel’s face scrunched up in disappointment. Good. He raised his chin up at me and then he sauntered over to one of the girls.
Chapter 3
Bethany
When Mrs. Adler, Uncle Anton’s personal assistant, had informed me that he was unable to pick me up and someone else was going to, I thought it’d be Pierce, my Aunt Deborah, or Cassidy. Or a driver. Not Chase.
Before Chase had left me in the lobby, I’d felt like I was gonna melt into a puddle of water under his hazel gaze. Addled, my skin had heated, and I had felt like he stroked my face wi
th his hands. Knots formed in my stomach because I wanted him to hold my face in his hands. Okay, I also wanted him to ease my growing ache below.
What the heck was wrong with me? I had just met the guy. Ruggedly handsome, he had such strong and big hands, with arms like boulders. In fact, his entire body was a walking billboard for fitness.
In less than a day’s time, I wanted Chase something awful. Somehow he had calmed my nerves about seeing Uncle Anton, setting off a different kind of tension in me. I’d been tempted to gawk at his figure. And I had come close to giving in when I had recalled why I was here. Plus, there was no way he’d get the satisfaction of catching me peek at him. Enough women had done that in the lobby. And I was really losing it; I’d given them a flinty-eyed stare like he was mine.
Shortly after I had seen Mrs. Muldoon and I was home, I tried to absorb that Cindy and Mr. Baxter had left town together. I hadn’t heard the note slip underneath the door; it’d been a letter from the landlord, stating that Cindy hadn’t paid rent in three months. She also hadn’t re-signed the lease. I’d been given two weeks to move out. Because rent had been paid consistently for years, thanks a lot to yours truly, my former landlord had given Cindy an extension. I’d thought that the notice had been a cruel joke played on me until I called the landlord’s office. I called Cindy afterwards and left her a message, letting her know that we were officially out of a home.
To say I was devastated would be an understatement. I would’ve sobbed right then. Jake had enveloped me in his arms and had said that he was there for me.
Soon after, Jake had picked Mariska up from work and she’d come to the house, assuring me that I could stay with her. But it hadn’t been right. Caring for Pete was a handful and her parents wouldn’t have said yes. She would’ve been angry at them when they had a right to say yes or no to begin with, and I didn’t want to be a source of discord in the Landry or the Cox homes.
